Little Terns at Baltray

The Louth nature Trust commissioned Birdwatch Ireland to run the colony this year, and as chance would have it, it looks like a record breaking one in terms of breeding birds at Baltray, with 89 active nests and more than 190 eggs; this is nearly double what was seen in previous years. All of these birds are due to hatch through the forthcoming spring tides, so things may bet a bit hairy.

The Louth Nature Trust would be very grateful to anyone who can volunteer a few hours to warden the site, particularly in the early morning, evening after 6pm and weekends.

Dawn Chorus

Thanks to everyone for coming along to the Dawn chorus at The Ballymascanlon Hotel at 5am. In the event the rain held off. We started in the walled garden where we picked up three tit species, robin, blackbird, blackcap and pied wagtail. Moving west to the stand of conifers we listened to the little egrets and grey herons squabbling over feeding their young. Walking up to the dolmen we added song thrush, dunnock, goldcrest, mistle thrush, greenfinch, goldfinch, chiffchaff and wren. Strangely we found no willow warbler. Returning to the hotel carpark we had a very confiding pair of treecreepers and goldcrests along with a particularly feisty robin.